GI Killed In Spate of Iraq Bombings
Car bombs and gunmen killed more than 20 people including an American soldier Saturday, as the government said insurgency-related violence cost the country's vital oil industry about $6.25 billion in damage and lost revenue last year.
Most of the attacks Saturday were directed against the U.S. military and Iraqi police, with civilians caught up in the violence.
The American soldier died when a roadside bomb exploded about 8 a.m. near the Shaab soccer stadium in eastern Baghdad, the U.S. command said in a statement. It was the first death of an American soldier since Tuesday and brought the number of U.S. personnel killed since the Iraq war began in March 2003 to at least 2,273, according to an Associated Press count.
In other developments:
Both those bombs were intended for police patrols, officials in each city said.
The U.S. command said American and Iraqi troops had found and destroyed 11 roadside bombs and three weapons caches in Baghdad in the past 24 hours. Twenty-nine suspects were arrested, the command said.
The Interior Ministry has announced an investigation into allegations of Shiite death squads in police ranks after U.S. troops arrested 22 policemen preparing to kill a Sunni Arab last month.
Jihad told Dow Jones Newswires that there had been 186 attacks on Iraqi oil installations last year, in which insurgents killed 47 oil engineers, technicians and workers as well as about 100 police protecting pipelines and other oil-related facilities.
Most of the sabotage took place in northern oil installations, preventing Iraq from exporting about 400,000 barrels a day which normally passes through pipelines to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
Iraq currently produces around 2 million barrels per day from its southern and northern oil fields, down by about 800,000 barrels from levels before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
Violence and attacks against foreign contractors have also had a devastating impact on the economy, driving up security costs and delaying reconstruction projects.
A $1 million ransom has been demanded for their release, a company employee said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
More than 250 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq since 2003, including American reporter Jill Carroll, who was abducted Jan. 7 in Baghdad. At least four other foreigners were seized last month, including two Germans abducted in Beiji and two Kenyan engineers who disappeared after an ambush in Baghdad.
On Saturday, the U.S. military announced the release of about 430 male Iraqi detainees over the past few days. Carroll's kidnappers have demanded the release of all women detainees. The U.S. military has said the periodic releases are not related to the kidnappers' demands.